Wichita eagle., 1887-06-29
THE WELSH RAREBIT.
A FASHION OF APPETITE THAT
THRVES AGAINST OPPOSITION.

full Forebodings of Anxious Friends
The Cooks Methods-Not So Hard to
| Digest.
The curious thing about all these late
| diners mp town is that You can nearly
| always tell what they are going to eat be-
fore they order it. In Sixth avenue the
main restaurant is famous for its deviled
crabs, and that's what those who go there
viii be apt TO order. In the other places
| the chances are mainly in favor of Welsh
rarebits. If not rabbit or a .'crab,"
beefsteak is the rule, but the rabbit is in
most demand. Welsh rarebit is what the
men eat aboard the ocean steamships
after the ladies have gone to bed and the
night is well spent. 1t is the commodity
most called for late at night at the clubs.
Just so at stag card parties all over town,
| the host whose kitchen can turn out the
incest rarebit late at night is apt to be
praised the most III his own circle.
1t is no new craze, this taste for the
| Welsh rarebit; it has been fashion of APP
| petite for years, and may be regarded as
| a fixed one. 1t thrives against the most
violent opposition. Half the men and all
| the women who don't eat rarebit look on
| with more or less alarm in their faces, and
either advise the rarebit eater hot TO in
! dulge his passion or eXclaim, almost al
| ways in the same words, I'D die if
should eat that!' But the eaters go on,
| Needless Of the frightful forebodings Of
| those who don't eat their favorite dish,
| putting down the unprepossessing food
batiOns OF Bass ale, sherry, lager, cham
payne or those mixed mucilaginouS and
syrupy blendings called cocktails. They
| neither fall dead nor are carried home in
agony, although it is safe to say that they
half expect some disagreement between
themselves and their food each time they
eat rarebit.
THE COOKS METHODS.
Welsh rarebits are differently made by
different cooks, but the best results are
obtained in this way: Take old dry cheese
| of any sort that has a tang to it, crate it
thoroughly, pepper and salt it very well,
put in big lump of butter, and add just
little fresh mustard. Stir this up and
put it on a very hot frying pan, having
hot fire ready. At this point cooks differ.
Some pour in a little boiling water, but
the majority use little old ale instead,
the object in both cases being to facilitate
the melting of the cheese so that it will
run together. The cheese in the pan must
be kept over the fire until it is thoroughly
liquid, when it must be poured over
buttered toast. 1t should be served on a
very hot plate and eaten at once Even
then the last of it will get slightly tough
and rubbery.
mr. fol n NC,
the other night. He knows as many of
the gourmets and good fellows generally
as any physician in town, and he says he
has heard a score remark how wonder
full 1t is that the Welsh rarebits they eat
don't kill them or even hurt them at all.
And yet, he says, II never had pa
tent with whom they disagreed. never
yet have had to caution one not to eat
rarebits, and on the other hand, have
once in my practice prescribed the eating
Of them To patient. The Welsh rarebit
is very interesting dish. 1t seems from
its appearance and condition and texture
as though it must be very unwholesome,
and yet | cannot say that it is. | have
even known it TO be eaten and completely
digested in that stringy condition in which
it gets when cooling, and i'll which it is
like a mass of flannel, or perhaps soft
glue would he better comparison. In
our practice we have way of discovering
how certain dishes act after they are
eaten. You would suppose man would
carry Welsh rarebit around with him
undigeSted several days, yet have known
of one being eaten at / at night and not
a trace being left in the stomach next
morning. 1t takes a good digestion to do
this. but apparently no extraordinary di-
gestive power is required. Most anybody
can do it. rs the magicians say when
they exhibit an especially difficult trick"
THE DRINKING DONE.
The doctor does not think the poached
egg on top of the rarebit, put there to
make what is called a golden buck of the
dish, makes any difference against it or in
its favor. As to the drinking that is done
with the eating Of rarehits, the sum of his
experience is that the best drinks to take
are those that are smallest, provided they
are not too strong. a glass of ale is bet
ter than bottle, and ale is perhaps the
best drink of all, better than champagne
or strong liquor. 1t is slightly squirting
to the digestive organs, and does no harm
so long as the food is not drowned in it
so as to dilute the gastric juices too much.
DR.. Smithers. over on the west side, is
very often appealed to by club men and
brokers who have been run down by high
living, and hope, with his aid, to get well
and 20 at it again. He has pronounced
opinions on the Welsh rarebit. They
are not good, he says, they are so hard
to digest. The reason that some persons
can eat them with impunity is that some
secrete the gastric juices much more rap
idly than others. All eating at night is
bad for professional men. Men who work
with their heads should eat their heaviest
meal in the middle Of the day. / account
for the nervous and brain troubles so COM
mon just now by the general habit Of din
ing at q and : o'clock The trouble with
the eating just before going to bed is that
it congests the liver and sends the blood
rushing TO the head, causing troubled and
broken sleep, Rarebits aren't so bad as
fried oysters. Fried oysters are about the